


Food/Trust

by cupidsbow



Series: Role Confusion [1]
Category: Venom (Movie 2018)
Genre: Animal Death, Anxiety, Character Study, Food Issues, Getting to Know Each Other, Other, Slice of Life, friendship romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-19
Updated: 2018-11-19
Packaged: 2019-08-26 02:30:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,394
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16673050
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cupidsbow/pseuds/cupidsbow
Summary: Venom is hungry. Eddie provides.





	Food/Trust

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first part of a series of stories I have planned about Venom and Eddie getting to know each other. This story stands alone, though.
> 
> See warnings in the End Notes.

**_Hunger._ **

For an endless time there was only _hunger_.

It was a pit that swallowed all thought, all strength, all ability to attempt a bond. It ate through their meagre reserves after the long spaceflight, and left them weak and small.

**_Hungry._ **

This world was a cage -- so much food within sight but always out of reach. Until… _yessss_ , furry outsides, soft tissues, warm juices, plump organs they could wrap themself around even in their weakened state, sucking and sucking until there were only hard things left they couldn’t yet eat.

Thought returned first -- a simple yearning for their teammates, even though Venom’s rank had been last and all the best food gone before their turn. There was comfort in being one of many, thoughts and plans shared with a touch, everything known with no effort.

Not like the fatty puddings in bone shells of these odd Hosts. Venom hadn’t even realised at first that there were thoughts dancing in the best part of the food. They had only stopped to look because one of the pictures that coated their tongue was of food. Hot, salty, crunchy. It made the Host’s mouth fill with wet. Delicious.

They had enough control to be a little more careful with the next Host... Maria. Her brain ( _fatty, lush, hard not to eat)_ was quite clever, and they used it to learn more about this world, and even to boost their own thinking to something like normal. Maria was hoping another Host would notice she was missing and come and get her out of the cage. The other Host -- “Eddie. His name is _Eddie_ ” -- had a face full of juice, all pump-tasty-pink, and Eddie sometimes gave _food_ to Maria. “Fries,” she said, and there was more mouth wetness, her blood fizzing with happiness at the memory in a way that made Venom crave. It was hard not to eat her quickly, but Venom wanted to get out of the cage too. Out to where the _food_ was. So they waited, and hoped for Eddie to find them.

It was hard, because they were still so empty, and Maria tasted good. It was hard not to eat her all at once, to leave the brain for last when it took so much energy to run, especially hard to hold off when she could no longer think well enough to answer their questions.

For an endless time there was hunger.

And then there was Eddie.

\--

At first, Venom was too exhausted to do more than rest and watch the world through Eddie’s eyes, feeling hollow, and sad, and…

 **_Hungry_**.

That was Venom’s first attempt to communicate since their reunion after the fight with Riot, and it startled Eddie into dropping a whole carton of eggs to the floor, which they promptly ate up. They barely touched the sides. The Tater Tots Eddie fed them next were delicious, and there followed several days and nights of demanding to be fed, resting, gorging, and occasional bouts of Eddie crying like a pussy over them being alive. It was gratifying, and soothed some of the sting of knowing they were stuck on this planet now, surrounded by the poison air, relentless hunger, and the comforting _swish-swash_ of Eddie’s blood.

Days of food and sleep blurred together, broken up by a quick trip to get more food and an occasional shower, but finally a morning arrived that they got out of bed and nothing hurt anymore, and Eddie announced, “Right, enough vacation. Today, we’re going on rounds.” He put on a clean sweatshirt, and took them outside into the bright sunlight.

**_What are rounds?_ **

“Rounds are just visiting people who might have picked up good stories and be willing to share.” Eddie was walking down a street not far from their apartment, but it was still further than they’d been before.

Venom had draped themself like a scarf around his neck so that they could take everything in.

“Rounds are part of my job.”

**_You don’t have a job._ **

“Thanks, rub it in.” Eddie said. He sounded offended, but he didn’t taste offended. A little worried maybe. Venom was still learning how to read his neural transmitters. “I’ll have a job soon. People are calling, but having a few potential stories I can pitch will help sweeten the deal.”

A woman pushing an oddly-shaped box with wheels was coming towards them. Venom eyed the box, wondering if it was a shopping cart with food inside. Venom liked shopping carts. They had been to Mrs Chen’s store to get food one night, and the squeaky cart Eddie had used when they were “Out of everything”  was very handy to carry all the eggs and Tater Tots and minced beef.

“Gotta earn enough to keep you in Tater Tots, right?” Eddie said. “So some days, I do the rounds. Checking in on people who have their ear to the ground, and might be willing to talk to me if anything interesting happens. Greases the wheels, you know.”

The woman gave Eddie a look without turning her head, like she was trying to look and not look at the same time. They couldn’t tell if she was frightened of Eddie or admiring him. Faces were so hard to read when Eddie wasn’t paying attention to them and Venom couldn’t use his brain as an interpreter. Maybe she wanted to mate? Venom hadn’t figured out how that worked yet, just that mating was something Hosts thought about a lot.

Venom waited until the woman looked away, and let the “wind” flap them closer to the cart, getting a quick look at a small Host lying on its back, kicking its legs.

They poked for Eddie's attention. **_Is it food?_ **Had she bought the tiny Host from a store like Mrs Chen’s?

Eddie turned and glanced at the Host and her shopping cart -- _pram_ , his brain corrected, flashing a picture-show at Venom. Then it changed to -- _baby_ \-- and Eddie’s blood turned sour. “What the hell, V. No! Babies are _not_ food.”

Still watching the woman over Eddie’s shoulder, they noticed her speed up and hurry off to wherever she was going. She seemed full of energy and juice. Venom didn’t understand why Eddie was so against eating un-used Hosts when they looked so tasty, but his blood was fizzing with genuine distress so Venom reluctantly put the idea aside.

“I promise we’ll get food,” Eddie said. “I have a plan. Just wait a little longer. You’ll like it.”

**_Not dead things?_ **

“No, not dead things. You can pick anything you want except humans. How about that?”

Venom felt a wave of affection, and let it flow to Eddie. **_Best Host._ **

“Whatever,” Eddie said, but his blood was fizzing with good feelings now too, as his affection surged back to Venom.

\--

Eddie took them on a bus that smelled like heat-baked material and old sweat and deposited them onto a street filled with movement -- cars and bikes, food trucks and seagulls, all making noise and moving to and fro. There were more Hosts -- _humans_ \-- than Venom had ever seen in one place before, and they opened their mouth to take in the delicious scents of so much life.

An acrid scent had him looking down. **_Why is there spoor?_ ** Venom asked, eyeing a brown mass on the sidewalk that Eddie carefully stepped over.

“It's not _spoor_ , it’s a turd, and why it’s here is a long story to do with a lack of public bathrooms combined with the endemic failure of capitalism and a city-wide homelessness problem. I can explain it more when we get home if you like.”

 **_Okay, Eddie. But doesn’t it attract predators? Are we the only predators here?_ **That would make finding food a lot easier.

“I know it’s hard to believe, but humans are the apex predators on this planet. Nothing can really compete with us. Well maybe rats. Or cockroaches.”

**_Or me._ **

Eddie huffed a laugh, and then slowed down and smiled at a human sitting on a pile of newspapers. When she smiled back, he pulled out his wallet.

While Eddie chatted to the other human about a problem with a local _homeless shelter_ , Venom thought about this odd lack of apex predators. Humans were so squishy. Surely there were predators with bigger teeth? He searched through Eddie’s memories for rats and cockroaches, and wasn’t much more enlightened. They were small and unimpressive. Perhaps they had hidden powers?

Eddie tucked his newspaper under one arm and resumed walking down the street. “No, they just breed fast and can live off our junk, so we can never kill them all. We’re usually really good at killing things. We can think up more ways to kill things than you’d ever be able to imagine.”

Venom scoffed. The Klyntar could eat whole worlds.

Eddie must have picked up on that, because he started mentally flipping through… the dead people in Carlton Drake’s lab, serial killers, gas chambers, war-torn killing fields, atomic bombs… fire falling from the sky and bodies stretching as far as the eye could see.

**_Stop._ **

Their insides were prickling with stress, and they wanted to uncoil from Eddie’s neck, bulk up and show teeth, but at the same time they wanted to crawl inside Eddie’s body and hide inside his chest so no-one could see them. It took an effort to hold themself back and stay coiled and still and invisible. They pressed a little closer to the damp skin of Eddie’s throat.

“Are you okay, V?”

Carlton Drake had stopped their scouting party with ease, but it had not before occurred to Venom that it was possible the larger Klyntar invasion could have been defeated too. Not by such soft Hosts. They had assumed the Hive would descend and consume the planet, because that is what the Hive had always done. They had not known about _atomic bombs_. They had not known humans would drop fire on other humans, making the dead too poisoned even to eat. Escaping the Hive had been the most daring rebellion they could imagine, but they had always assumed the Hive would go on without them. Just the thought of the Hive destroyed, of Klyntar and human Hosts alike both sacrificed to atomic fire, their bodies burnt to ashes…

Venom shuddered.

“Hey, hey,” Eddie said, running gentle fingers along Venom’s surface. “We’re safe now. You stopped it. You did good.”

Some of the horror eased away with the flavour of Eddie’s concern, leaving behind an aching awareness of their emptiness.

 **_Hungry_** , Venom muttered, letting his plasma slide between Eddie’s fingers.

“I hear you, V. We’re almost there.”

\--

Food was _everywhere_. There were brightly coloured fronds and roots and fleshy seed pods -- _fruits_ and _vegetables,_ Eddie’s brain offered -- packed onto tables and heaped in boxes underneath them, with humans thronging all around. It was a bounty like nothing Venom had ever seen. He opened his mouth to take in the scents, and most of it was dead, but some of it was good.

**_Eddie!_ **

He could feel how pleased Eddie was that his surprise had been well received.

“Okay, ground rules,” Eddie said softly, standing out of the flow of people. “First, don’t attract attention, no matter what. Only move when no-one is looking, and hide your teeth.”

**_Why?_ **

“Because we don’t want someone like Drake to get the jump on us and stick us back in a lab.”

Venom flexed involuntarily as they remembered the cramped quarters of the unbreakable canister, causing a fine tremor to echo through Eddie’s limbs. **_We could eat them._ **

“Yeah, but let’s not risk it. Second, there are tasting trays, and you’re allowed to eat off them without paying money. Just do it without anyone seeing, and make sure you leave at least one piece behind. It’ll help us stay unnoticed. Third, if there’s something you want that isn’t on a tasting tray, let me know. I’ll buy some, and we can try it out at home later. Got all that?”

**_Copy._ **

Venom tried to take everything in as Eddie made his way into the throng -- there was so much to scent at once. They wandered for a bit, until Venom smelled something amazing that made them strain towards a box filled with long green things -- _soybeans,_ Eddie’s brain translated the sign, _$1/lb_. There wasn’t a tasting tray, so Eddie filched one and stuck it underneath his hoodie for Venom to try. Eddie started talking to another customer about whether the beans might really be South American instead of local as advertised, while Venom took a little nibble. The taste exploded onto their tongue, toothsome and floury, with a definite food taste, a lot like Eddie’s blood when he was happy.

Eddie grabbed a paper bag, and filled it up with the beans. He paid with a few cheery words to the stall-holder and then moved on, until Venom caught another good scent. They ended up buying _peanuts_ , three different types of _salami_ , _almonds_ and _sesame seeds_ , and a _cheese_ that Eddie said smelled like feet but Venom thought smelled delicious. For Eddie they bought _strawberries_ and _grapes_.

 **_Not food_** , Venom protested, but Eddie bought them anyway.

“I’d rather not get scurvy due to your complete protein diet, thanks very much.”

**_Pussy. Wouldn’t let you get sick._ **

“Awww. That’s almost sweet, apart from the insult. Where the hell did you learn to call people that anyway?”

**_Maria._ **

Eddie’s blood panged with a bitter mix of emotions.

**_She thought of you while we were trapped by Drake._ **

Eddie made a strangled noise instead of answering, but there was nothing wrong with his airway when Venom checked. Probably just a human thing.

Eddie was waiting in line to buy something called _salmon_ that was making them drool, when they noticed a few little turds underneath the table of the next stall. The pellets were clustered around one corner of a battered cardboard box that looked like it had been gnawed by something. The pellets smelled different from human spoor, but had a similar hint of food about them.

**_Food, Eddie!_ **

Eddie glanced down at the turds and gnaw marks and muttered, “Rats.”

Ah! The competition. Venom was curious about these rats. **_Can I eat one?_ **

Eddie sighed. “Fine. Can’t be worse than cannibalism.”

The fish-seller cutting the salmon gave Eddie the same look as the human with the pram. Eddie felt embarrassed when he noticed it. Venom would have to ask him why later. Humans were strange.

\--

Eddie said he had never hunted rats before, but he still seemed to know how to find their nest. The market’s car park for stallholders reeked of burnt carbon-fuels -- _gas_ \-- wilted vegetables and piss. Next to the dumpsters there was a pile of empty cardboard boxes, some of them more battered than others, some with newer scents overlaying older scents, and some showing gnaw marks from sharp little teeth. Eddie took a sturdy box off the top and dropped their haul of groceries into it and his newspaper. Venom followed the smell of rats and turds and found a broken drainpipe that led into a dark, dank hole.

“Do what you gotta do,” Eddie said. “I really don’t need to see this.”

Venom poked a tendril into the hole. The scent led them straight to a nest with several furry brown animals and a squirming mass of little pink babies.

The larger animals tried to run from them but were easy enough to catch. Their heads popped delightfully between Venom’s teeth, the brains fatty and good. Venom paused and checked in with Eddie about the little furless ones.

“Yes, you can eat the rat babies too. God.”

**_Delicious._ **

\--

 **_“Rat brains are my new favourite.”_** Venom felt good now. Still a little hungry, but the ache was mostly gone.

“Of course they are,” Eddie said, lifting up their box and tucking it against his hip so he could carry it one-handed. “I guess I’ll get used to it, but I gotta admit, right now it makes me want to puke. At least they’re cheap, right?”

 **_“Tasty too.”_** Venom snaked a tendril down Eddie’s arm and pooled in his palm, invisible to anyone who might look at them, and took most of the box’s weight.

“Thanks, buddy.” Eddie set off, heading back towards the front entrance of the market and their bus stop.

Venom re-coiled themself around Eddie’s neck. **_Do you have a favourite food, Eddie?_ **

“I guess. I’m pretty fond of Tater Tots, or any kind of potato really, and when I’m in the mood for sweet things, I’m a bit of an M&M’s fan. We’ll have to get some so you can try them.”

 **_Yes!_ ** If M&M’s were as good as Tater Tots, they would like them. **_What is_ ** **sweet** **_like?_ **

Eddie laughed. “Oh, wow. I wouldn’t even know how to start… maybe brains that taste like fruit?”

 **_Hmmm._ **That didn’t sound very delicious.

Eddie laughed again; his blood tasted of anticipation. “This is going to be fun.”

\--

When they got off at the bus stop nearest home, Venom realised they could see traces of rats that they hadn’t paid attention to before. One alley in particular stank of rat piss, and Venom insisted Eddie check it out.

They found a heaving nest in an overflowing dumpster, so many rats they couldn’t catch them all. After seven, the last pangs of hunger finally quieted, and after three more they paused and looked at the final few that were squirming in their coils.

“You’re not even hungry now, right?” Eddie said. “It’s okay to leave some for next time.”

**_“We could take them home for later.”_ **

“No!” Eddie snapped, thrumming with disgust.

Venom dropped the rats and shrunk back inside their body. Why was that wrong? They were taking other snacks home. Why did Eddie suddenly find them disgusting?

“Shit!” Eddie huffed out a breath and rubbed a hand through his hair. It was soothing, but Venom refused to be soothed.

Without Eddie they had no home. They would have to brave the toxic air and try to find another Host before they died, or jump from person to person, never resting, always hungry. They curled up small and quiet, and hoped Eddie would stop being angry.

“I didn’t mean it like that, buddy. I’m sorry. There’s nothing wrong with needing to eat.”

Maybe Annie might take them back? They liked Annie, but they didn’t know where she lived.

“It’s not you, Venom. It’s the rats. Rats carry diseases that can kill people, especially rats like these that eat rubbish and god knows what. You have a super-stomach, or you can make mine super-powered or whatever it is you do so food won’t hurt us, but rat diseases have wiped out whole towns in the past.” Images of _the plague_ rolled through Eddie’s mind. “We gotta be careful. We can’t take rats back home and maybe spread germs to people who don’t have a handy alien to cure them.”

Venom uncurled a little, examining the images of buboes and gangrene. The plague looked painful. They wouldn’t like it if Eddie’s fingers went black and fell off. They checked Eddie’s body to make sure nothing had penetrated their joint defences, snapping up a few squiggling bacteria that didn’t belong.

Eddie tapped the box resting on his hip. “You have lots of snacks already, right? And we can come back and get more rats whenever you need to. We don’t need to take them home.”

Venom let themself bud out of Eddie’s chest. **_"You just said rats were dangerous because they breed fast. You didn’t say they had germs that could kill people._** ”

“You’re right.” Eddie gently cupped Venom’s head, and the warmth of his hand felt good. “I should have warned you before you ate them. For future reference, assume all wild animals carry germs, and any insects or plants you haven’t seen before might be poisonous.”

Venom squinted at Eddie’s face. It was still hard to read expressions, but he tasted sincere. **_Rub our head more. It feels nice._ **

Eddie smiled and complied, his fingers tracing over Venom’s outer surface, sending pleasant vibrations all the way through their plasma. “We should watch some documentaries tonight. They can explain stuff like germs better than I can.”

 **_Acceptable_** , Venom murmured, and reluctantly dissolved back into Eddie’s chest so they could finish the walk home.

\--

“So which of these tastes most like food to you?” Eddie asked

The bags of produce were lying in front of them on the kitchen table, along with the empty packaging that had held the salmon.

Venom re-tasted a sample from each bag, just to be sure, and then confirmed, **_Soybeans, peanuts, almonds._ **

“Huh.”

**_You are surprised._ **

“Kinda. I would have guessed the salmon given the way you like to eat raw eggs and raw meat.” Eddie pulled out his phone and opened up Google. “Do you know if they taste like food because they all contain one particular thing you’re looking for, or are they all food of different kinds?”

**_One thing. Food is in lots of things, but it’s always the same. Your brain makes it too, makes your blood taste nice._ **

“Creepy, buddy, but useful to know. It would be nice if we could take the guesswork out of feeding you.” He typed in _peanuts soybeans almonds brains common ingredients._

Venom craned over to get a better look at Eddie’s search results, but it was just page after page of information about common food allergens and a couple of articles on eating nuts as “brain foods”.

**_Your blood doesn’t taste like allergens._ **

“Guess that’s a bust, then.” Eddie turned off the phone.

**_And your brain is already food._ **

“Hey!” Eddie flicked him between the eyes, but he was amused, they could tell. They licked him in retaliation anyway, because they weren’t a pussy.

Wiping the spit off the side of his face, Eddie said, “Right, it’s on!” and made a grab for their head. Venom ducked, but Eddie somehow anticipated it. The chair went over and they were rolling across the kitchen floor. Eddie ended up on top, wedging them into his armpit long enough to rub the top of their head like a pot being scrubbed. “Payback is a bitch!”

Venom started to dissolve into Eddie’s body, but he said, “No cheating, you cheater!” and instead they dragged a tentacle through the empty salmon wrapping and then stuck it up Eddie’s nostril.

“Dick move!” Eddie cried, letting go of their head to push the tentacle aside.

They eyed each other for a moment, and then Eddie lunged, and Venom lunged back, wrapping him up in a dozen tentacles, until his whole head was engulfed. Eddie wrapped both arms around them and squeezed. “You’re such an asshole,” he slurred out, and then kissed them, right on the outer nodule of their crop, which was still taut from the day’s feast.

Venom’s limbs spasmed, and they fell back onto the grimy lino, their surface rippling with happiness.

“Oh, you liked that did you?” Eddie put his big, warm hand over their crop and rubbed it again.

Their limbs jerked, and they pushed their affection at Eddie, coiling and uncoiling around Eddie’s arms and shoulders and neck as peristalsis rippled throughout their body.

“What is that?” Eddie was watching the ripples move across their surface.

**_Digestion._ **

“Cool.” Eddie lay down next to them, propping his head on one hand as he continued to rub them with the other. “Your body is really cleverly designed.”

Venom preened. Eddie liked their body.

“You know, this would be more comfortable over on the couch. Why don’t we clean up, and then watch that documentary?”

They didn’t want Eddie to stop touching them, but it would be nicer on the couch.

With a final pat, Eddie got up and started packing the food away, sealing up packets, and decanting things into containers. Venom watched wistfully. Humans always wrapped food in so many layers, like they didn’t want it to be eaten. They reluctantly gathered up the peanuts that had rolled out of their bag when Eddie had knocked the chair over, and pushed them towards the container Eddie was filling.

“Try to make these last until Saturday, if you can,” Eddie said, stacking the containers neatly in the middle of the table. “We won’t be able to go to the market again until then.”

Venom considered Eddie’s words; it was hard to read anything but contentedness from his blood, which didn’t help make his meaning clearer.

Eddie looked up. “What? Do I still have drool on me?” He scrubbed the side of his head with the sleeve of his hoodie. “You really need to start brushing your teeth… or maybe your tongue.”

Ignoring that, Venom asked, _“_ ** _This is my food?_ **” He curled a tentacle around the container of soybeans.

Eddie nodded. “Sure is, buddy.”

There were seven packages of snacks, and three days until Saturday. **_Best Host_** , Venom said, feeling an overwhelming surge of affection.

“Sweet talker.” Eddie smiled at him. “Come on, let’s find out everything we ever wanted to know about rats. Grab a snack if you want one.”

Venom uncurled their limb from the soybeans. **_Not hungry._ **

“There’s a first.”

Eddie kicked his shoes off and settled onto the couch. He flicked on the TV, and then took the hint and put his hand back on the bump of their crop and started to rub.

The theme music swelled as Eddie’s brain translated the title, _David Attenborough’s Life Stories -- Rats,_ and Venom eyed the screen with interest. The Klyntar didn’t have anything like TV.

“You know, I have a contact in the FDA who owes me a favour. Tomorrow I’ll see if she knows what the common factors are between the foods we have on your list. Maybe we can narrow it down a bit.”

 **_Thank you, Eddie,_ **Venom said, sliding a tendril up into his hair, and mimicking the same gentle motion of Eddie’s hand on their crop.

Eddie sighed and all his muscles loosened up, becoming even more comfortable to lie on.

It turned out that David Attenborough didn’t like rats very much, but knew a lot of interesting things about them anyway. Venom liked the way he looked at the world -- as though its strangeness was what made it interesting.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Venom eats several animals in this story, and also experiences extreme anxieties over food.


End file.
